Letter to the Editor of The New Orleans Gambit in support of Gary Raymond
Hero To Truth
To the editor,
The story of district attorney staff worker Gary Raymond has reached Philadelphia, and I find it distressing and shameful. So do the
eighth-grade students in my classes. America is nothing if it cannot live by its stated ideals of respect for an informed citizenry.
America is nothing if it jails honest men like Mr. Raymond, who had the heroic courage to refuse to follow the bidding of his
employer, District Attorney Harry Connick, and destroy historical records.
The files of Jim Garrison's case against Clay Shaw in the assassination of President John Kennedy are public record funded by tax
money and now mandated by Congress to be reviewed by the Assassination Records Board. It is our history and not the private
property of any elected individual. America was conceived in order to protect us from private agendas like those of King George and
Harry Connick.
Every student in our schools knows that question and hypothesis must be proved by evidence. That is the basic curriculum and the
foundation for civilized progress. Destruction of evidence is a deliberate act of war against the entire process of rational thought.
Destruction of evidence is what Harry Connick is advocating. It is sad to witness a judicial process in New Orleans that has acted as
an accessory to this reprehensible action that flies in the face of law, of Congress and of constitutional protection.
The public has a right to know what is in files paid for with tax dollars. Elected officials who deny that right should be promptly
impeached. A democracy lives only when a rich diet of information is available—then let the people decide. Harry Connick is not
the one to decide. He would wipe out valuable source data. That's abuse of power and a failing grade in any classroom in America.
Too many unanswered questions remain about the murder of a president. The evidence has been withheld, and answers have been
provided without evidence. That's bad science, bad governing and abuse of power. Gary Raymond is a hero in this story, one of the
many who have borne the slings and arrows of official hits simply because they dared to look for evidence, and perhaps for truth.
Pearl Gladstone
June 19, 1996
http://jfklancer.com/Garrison.html